“‘How you call yourself?’ she asked. ‘Fannee, votre nom? c’est bien joli. Are you Anglaise ou Americaine?’
“There was a moment’s hesitancy, and then Fred answered:
“‘Je suis Anglaise.’
“Whereupon Celine, delighted that she could speak a word of French, and taking it for granted she could speak more, rattled on so vehemently that her companion stood aghast, comprehending nothing except that Celine had thought him Americaine, because he was tall and thin, and not—not ‘comment appellez vous cela,’ she said: ‘very much grown, much stomach and chin, comme Anglais.’
“‘Anglais thin quelque fois,’ Fanny said: and then the mischievous Celine commented upon his hands and feet, which her quick eyes had noted as large and unfeminine, albeit the hands were very white and shapely.
“Coloring to the roots of his hair, Fred stood the ordeal as well as he could, feeling almost as if he were in the presence of a detective, and should have his real name, and sex, and business screamed to all the world. But Celine was far from suspecting the truth, and rather liked la femme Anglaise on the whole, and while the ladies talked together in the court below, took her over the house and showed her the view from the windows, and presented her to any of the servants whom they chanced to meet as Fannee, who was Anglaise, and came from Londres.
“Meanwhile Eugenie and Anna sat talking on indifferent subjects, while all the time the latter was longing to ask the all-important question as to whether there was any news from America. At last she could endure the suspense no longer, and grasping Eugenie’s hand, said, in a whisper:
“‘Tell me, have you written? Do they know? I have waited so long for some message.’
“‘Yes, I have wrote; and they do know, and la mère n’est pas morte, as I tell you, but lives in Millfield the same. More I tell you plus tard,’ was Eugenie’s reply.
“And the next moment Anna had fainted.